The year in fraud: 2015 in 13 numbers

It's that time of year: Round ups, hot takes and eulogies for the year abound. We're no different, but we're going to tell the story of 2015 a little differently – through numbers. Thirteen of them to be exact. In no particular order, here's how hackers and scammers and the many security flaws they found got us on edge for this year … and the next.

1,400,000

After security researchers remotely disabled a Jeep by hacking into its software for a WIRED magazine story, Chrysler recalled 1.4 million vehicles. Unlike with a traditional recall, though, owners didn't need to take their cars back to the dealership. They could download the patch onto a USB drive, then upload it into their cars.

90,000

In 2012, an encrypted laptop was stolen and along with it information on 8,883 patients from EMC and Hartford Hospital. Why include it in a 2015 round up? Because it wasn't until this year that the companies (EMC the contractor and Hartford Hospital, well, the hospital) agreed to pay $90,000 to the state of Connecticut for the breach. The laptop was stolen from the home of an EMC employer and has never been recovered. In the agreement, EMC and the hospital did not admit any potential violations HIPPA.

75 percent

Exploit kits are the hot thing with criminals right now. Activity on four such kits that make up 96 percent of activity increased by 75 percent in the third quarter of this year compared to the same time last year according to the Infoblox DNS Threat Index. The kits are used to create malicious DSN infrastructure.

324,000

The IRS hasn't had a great year: in May they announced that more than 100,000 taxpayers had their information stolen. Then in August, they added another 220,000 people to that roll and put their total estimate at 324,000 poor souls. Hackers made their money by filing fraudulent tax returns and taking refunds before the real taxpayer can file and claim the money they're owed.

6

When United Airlines announced is bug bounty program, they got a response from Randy Westergren. And then…well, he says that the airline waited six months to implement the fix, and only did so after he threatened to out the vulnerability. The hole allowed hackers change anything about another passenger's reservation, and was (finally) patched on Nov. 14.

85-90

When looking that what could be identifying factors for a fraudster trying to shop online with someone else's information, Sift Science found the highest rates of fraud among users ages 85 to 90 years old. This doesn't mean senior citizens are suddenly becoming super criminals. Most likely, fraudsters are pretending to be seniors so they appear to be trusting.